The New Regime: Day 1

OK, I'm not gonna lie to you.
Day 1 of The New Nikki didn't go off to a half hour on the Air Climber. I did still get up at 6:20 a.m. and did a half-hearted 10 minutes on the AC, but I was so exhausted because I had one of my Insomniac Nights.
Not that that's an excuse, of course, even though I didn't really push myself.

I ate well all day and was starving by the time I left work.
I was so starving that I got one of my Nikki Hungry headaches,* yet I courageously ventured out for a quick walk around the school.

Damned if I didn't feel better!
The crisp air and the beautiful fall sky made everything better, even though I felt weak from starvation.**

The neatest thing happened at the end of my first lap. Just as I came around the corner of the school, I, deep in thought, looked up at the sky.
In parts it was bright orange as the sun began to set, and toward my house, amid ominously dark clouds, a very faint rainbow was visible.
I don't know why, because it certainly wasn't raining, which is the really only time I've ever seen a rainbow, save for through the mist at Niagara Falls.
It made me happy.

***
Like maybe I'm on my way to my pot of gold - my pot of mental and physical happiness gold.

I got home from my brisk 1.5 mile walk, had a nice dinner, ate my pudding cup with a dollop of peanut butter**** and here I am.

I feel better. Clear headed. Like I'm getting back on the road to myself. Yet again.

Well, I guess everyone is a work in progress, right?

*a searing headache that comes along during the first few days of a diet. According to my medical analysis, the headaches happen during the drastic switch from gorging myself to diet mode. Now granted, my medical analysis is done by me, who is not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, so it's pretty much bunk.
** I am not, under any circumstances, starving myself. I just like to hyperbole. And use big words.
*** Photo courtesy of Photobucket.com, not moi.
**** For the first time in my adult life of living alone - nine whole years - I bought generic peanut butter. I am a total Jif Extra Crunchy girl and immediately following the demise of this jar of generic reduced fat peanut butter, I am totally going back to my Jif Extra Crunchy. I don't give a damn how many Weight Watcher points it is. That fresh roasted peanuts taste is worth the higher price. I'm ashamed of myself, really, for trying to pinch pennies, when all I did was pinch taste. What kind of foodie am I?

I made a Happy List!

... even though I'm feeling kind of grumble-y since the fridge isn't fixed and I'm not feeling well and, while the temperature is my kind of temperature, there's no sun ... oh, this is supposed to be a Happy List entry.

On with it then! :)

10 things that make me happy:

1. Fall. Glorious, glorious fall!
2. Taking a morning walk and having the crisp air nip my nose.
3. My OCD morning rituals.
4. The smell of crab apples.
5. Russet-colored leaves blanketing the ground.
6. Knowing that we put out a kick-ass issue of the Weekender today.
7. Having a super busy next two weeks (and kind of secretly loving it).
8. Wearing my velour winter robe with animal-print cuffs.
9. Seeing the blindingly clean inside of my fridge, even though I’m still pissed that it still isn’t fixed.
10. Cardigans!

Hope you'll have lots to make you happy on this Hump Day!

School days, school days.

Though I always hated The First Day of School, I adored Back To School (BTS) Shopping.
And I'm actually not talking about clothes.

I went to a Catholic school for grades 1-8, so until the summer before ninth grade, copious amounts of clothing sales meant nothing to me.
{Among many other things I blame on my going to Catholic school, my penchant for shopping definitely takes the cake because once I got the taste of it before going into freshman year, I never looked back.}

I'm talking about something much, much deeper than that.
I'm talking ... notebooks.

... pens.
... highlighters.
... Trapper Keepers.

... folders.
And the piece de resistance ... loose-leaf paper.
{Oh God, how I loved loose-leaf paper.}

Nothing to me - someone who's been writing (sometimes pure drivel) since I was 10 - is more enticing than loose-leaf paper or a fresh notebook.
I loved the smell of it, the feel of it, the promise of it.
The ideas that would unfurl between those light blue lines - how powerful is that? Knowing my words - even if they were chem notes I sure as hell wouldn't understand or algebra I haven't used once in the near 15 years since I graduated - would fill up those lines.
Mind. Blowing. Exclamation point!

Even today, I get giddy when I go into an office supply store, or down the BTS aisle of [insert local discount mart here]. I could stay there for hours picking out the perfect notebooks and smelling all the paper surrounding me.
{The pens have always, always been blue PaperMate pens. And only blue PaperMate pens.}

And how about the promise of a new school year?
The year you'll make the honor roll, the cheerleading squad, snag the cute bad boy?
Oh it's always so rife with possibility.

Which is exactly why I've been thinking about BTS time a lot lately, and decided to make my own BTS promises this school year, even though I:
1. Do not go to school.
2. Do not work in a school.
3. Do not have children I am preparing to send off to school.

This is my Back To School list:

- I will learn to cook. Once and for all. Without dramatics. Maybe whilst wearing my pearls. And with a martini within reach.
- I will grow my nails. And upkeep them, instead of biting them or picking at them.
- I will clean more often in the nooks and crannies of the fabulous apartment I adore, instead of taking the easy way out.
- I will wear a fabulous dress to the office at least once a week. Maybe accessorized with the pearls.
- I will freelance.
- I will learn to meditate.
- I will get back into jogging. Once and for all.
- I will revel in the fact that I am single, even if I get lonely sometimes. Good things - great things - come to those who wait. Ever so patiently.

Fin.

How soon until tea?

I long for fall.
I always do - it's my favorite time of year, especially because I absolutely loathe these humid temperatures. I loved the summer weather - or lack thereof - we've had (minus all the monsoon rains of course).

One of the main reasons I'm jonesing for fall isn't just because I look forward to snuggling under a mountain of covers with my windows open as the temperature drops, but because I miss my favorite morning ritual: using my tea kettle.



It looks so forlorn and lonely unused on my retro-colored yellow stove that it kind of breaks my heart. There's just something so calming, so British, so Zen about that kettle whistling for me when I get out of the shower and the first sip of a good strong green tea.

Soon, soon.
(But not soon enough for me.)

E Merritt freeze out

While I adore Fall, it makes me dread what follows it: Winter. I live in the coldest house in the WORLD. I swear I can see my breath most of the time.

No matter what I set my heat on, I still freeze my arse off and rely on a lil space heater in my living room and bathroom.

My apartment is without insulation, which was brilliant on the builder's part oh-so-many years ago. As I type this, I am wearing a turtleneck sweater, a puffy vest, jeans, shoes and am contemplating using my Weekender fingerless gloves. But I think that might be just a smidge de trop, as they say in France.

Short of lighting a bonfire, what the heck can a girl without insulation to do??